Entwined
by Leaonancano
Summary: Elrilyn the Bosmer only cares about two things: Niruin and thieving. But, when both of these things are wrenched from her grasp, will she be able to knit together the broken bonds that remain?


The biting night air of the Autumnal forest nipped at my sensitive flesh, causing me to curse at traipsing all the way from Whiterun to Riften to change the ledgers in The Bannered Mare. Glowing stars twinkled lazily in the dark veil of the sky and I exhaled sharply, causing a puff of white air to appear, then dissipate into my frozen surroundings. Although I loved the feel of deceiving and the rush of adrenaline as you flee from the crime, I hated the repetitive jobs that no one else wanted to take. I was always the one to be nominated to do the most mundane of the jobs because everyone else saw me as 'not caring' about whether or not I should have at least some excitement in my life. I had tried countless times to bargain my way out of doing these jobs but to no avail so after many attempts at bribing Niruin to do the jobs for me, I gave it up as a bad job. Pushing on lazily through the overgrown path leading up to my destination, my mood darkened considerably as I sighted Riften's grey stone walls through the plethora of dense woodland trees as the bloated forms of Secunda and Masser shone weakly down onto my sallow face, casting elongated shadows onto my Elven features and accentuating my prominent cheek and brow bones. As usual, guards were posted on the outside of the gates, their faces concealed by high steel helmets and the only indication that someone was inside the passive visage of metal were the mutterings of 'Good evening, citizen' as I nodded politely and pushed open the wooden gates to the dilapidated city of Riften.

Not many years ago, Riften was a bustling hub of activity. The market place was always full to bursting with promising buyers and The Bee and Barb was never empty, but now you were lucky if a rat ran past your foot. When I had first decided to travel to Skyrim, Riften wasn't my first option on the map. Rumours had met my ears of how corrupt the city was and how crime was rampant throughout the hold but when I learned of the Thieves' Guild living in a sewer under the city, I changed my route to follow my expertise in the art of thievery. I had now been with them for over a year and I had established a good reputation and rank within the hierarchy. I was classed as the best sneak thief so I was mainly chosen to do breaking and entering jobs which I didn't mind if only they weren't as tedious. Pushing those mood dampening thoughts to the back of my sub-conscious, I hastily made my way over to the secret entrance, my feet skipping lightly over the mossy flagstones making no sound at all to conceal that I was here at all. Clinging to the shadows in between crevices of buildings, I came to the Temple of Mara, an extensive building situated away from the wooden walkway with large braziers lighting the pathway up to the religious building. I usually avoided going inside the actual building due to me not believing in any of the Divines so I sidestepped the door, jumped, and grabbed the ledge that overhung the building. My fingers dug painfully into the harsh stone so I quickly swung my lanky legs up and hauled myself up onto the roof. Riften didn't look so bad from high up, I thought as I picked my way carefully over the loose tiles; and perched myself atop of a flat surface; and pulled my knees up to my face in a languid manner, all the while watching for any guards roaming past who would probably arrest me for 'defacing religious buildings'. I snorted stupidly to myself at the thought of being arrested for sitting on a roof and turned my head to look at the night sky.

The Aurora Borealis was prominent in the star flecked sky, coloured tonight with a hue of a pastel green and a vivid purple, dancing slowly together and every now and then intermixing into a wash of a colour I couldn't describe but took my breath away nonetheless. All of a sudden, a scuffling of a leather scratching against stone sound met my pointed ears and caused my to abruptly swivel my head around to the source of the unknown noise. As I was debating whether or not to go and have a look, a dark figure climbed up and sat next to me, clad in the same brown leather armour that I was wearing. We sat in companionable silence, not needing to say anything and just letting our breathing fill the emptiness of the night. After a while of this, I decided to break the fragile silence that had settled around us like a blanket.

"Hey," I breathed softly, my hooded face turning to look at him.

"Hey, El." was all I got in response, but it didn't matter. Niruin wasn't much of a talker at the best of times so we went back to silence.

I grinned to myself and tucked my unruly auburn hair back behind my ears and pulled my hood back to expose my face to the chilly night air. Letting my hand fall next to us, Niruin took it in his and we laced our frozen fingers together in a criss-cross pattern. Budging closer to him, I laid my head onto his shoulder and sighed deeply.

"Best friends?" a murmur came from above my head.

"Best friends."

So, yeah. What d'ya think? I don't know whether to continue this or The Cracks In Your Nerve, so please let me know which one you think, thanks. :3


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